Beauty and the Headbutt

Inside the luxury hovercar slowly heading toward Civilian Spaceport No.2.

Guer Alliance First-Class Intelligence Officer Dr. Lina was pondering a question she found hard to understand.

'Does gene modification also modify the brain?'

When had Hanton gotten so clever?

Lina had been embedded on Professor Gigrov's ship for nine months, observing all the senior crew. Third Mate Hanton was a genuine Imperial Soldier, raised from childhood on the Sherman Empire's brainwashing-style education.

Simply put, he was a dull and straightforward Imperial Soldier.

But now;

Hanton had seen through her true identity from just two prison visits!

He'd even detected that she had mixed a Nano Positioning Device into the Gene Stabilizing Potion!

In the past few minutes, as Hanton kept "bickering" with this notorious old pirate, Lina sensed that Hanton's personality, knowledge, and manner of speaking were completely different from the Imperial Soldier she knew.

Gigrov's gene modification was far too incredible.

Too bad that Research Ship had already been consumed by Antimatter Annihilation.

Because of this, Lina felt she had to obtain Hanton—no matter the method!

Lina looked down at the small vest binding her hands, turned to watch 'Hanton' quickly changing clothes, and flashed a charming smile, as if she weren't a captive at all.

"Hanton..."

"Don't worry, Doctor. You saved me before; I won't really hurt you."

Yang Ming adjusted the dark blue maintenance uniform and put on a matching cap.

"Is Dr. Lina from the Guer Alliance or the United States of Freedom?"

"Why couldn't it be the New Federation?" Lina asked with a smile.

"Because the New Federation wants me dead," Yang Ming replied with a grin. "They don't want me to testify again at the Trial Court. They want to cement Professor Gigrov's guilt and then condemn the Sherman Empire. To do that, they tried to lure me into escaping prison so they could kill me."

Lina realized: "So you started the riot?"

"It was my First Mate!"

Yang Ming patted the old man's shoulder in the front seat:

"My loyal old buddy started the riot. He easily made a bunch of criminals overlook the fact that the prison had no heavy firepower."

"Oh, Hanton," Kolev said patiently, "in front of your woman, I'll give you that face, but we still need to get our relationship straight—there can only be one captain on a ship!"

Yang Ming laughed: "Are you challenging me to a duel?"

"Damn it, who wants to duel a freak fighter like you! Oh, right, we can compete on IQ."

Yang Ming ignored the old man and fixed his gaze on Lina's heaving white chest.

"I have no secrets from you, but I don't know you at all," Yang Ming said softly. "That's a bit unfair."

"Come back with me, Hanton. I can guarantee your safety and a stable, warm environment. I'll satisfy any request you have."

Lina made herself look as sincere as possible:

"Voluntarily revealing my identity is the most unprofessional thing in our line of work.

"Yes, my name is fake, my identity is fake, but my desire to help you is real. Hanton, our bond isn't just about surviving together—we understand each other.

"Only I can understand you."

Kolev, driving, couldn't help adding: "Clearly, Hanton, I can too."

"Help me?" Yang Ming leaned back comfortably in his seat. "Are you after my handsome looks or my impressive stamina?"

Lina's smile stiffened: "Hanton, your words are a bit crude... the old you wasn't like this..."

"Yes," Yang Ming said with a slight smirk. "Ever since the Empire decided to abandon me and let me rot in prison for twenty years, I realized my old life was utterly terrible. We all have to live for ourselves, and only for ourselves, right?"

Lina bit her lip gently.

She had to admit, the current Hanton was more attractive.

"Arriving at the port in five minutes," Kolev said with a laugh. "You two still have time for one or two deep exchanges."

"Come on, Kolev," Yang Ming cursed. "Hurry up and find us a small ship!"

Kolev laughed heartily, handed the hovercar over to autopilot, grabbed the square glass device he'd taken from Chief Guard Gulipa, and started fiddling with it.

"Hanton," Lina's voice turned incredibly tender. "I'll never forget that you saved me. We encouraged and supported each other in that little boat. We had a brief but warm time together, Hanton..."

"Doctor," Yang Ming frowned at her.

Lina knew her strengths. She didn't flinch, staring into Yang Ming's eyes with undisguised attachment, and slowly leaned toward him.

Yang Ming didn't refuse, lowering his head to enjoy the kiss.

The old man in the driver's seat slid down in his seat to avoid disturbing the two youngsters.

'I was young once too.'

Just as Kolev was considering whether to slow down or find a place to pull over, he heard murmuring from the back seat again.

"Hanton, can you stay? For my sake..."

"Can you treat your own concussion? Lina?"

"Huh? What?"

Bam!

Kolev couldn't help but widen his eyes.

In the crisp sound of impact, the beauty with her hands cuffed rolled her eyes and collapsed, a bloody mark immediately appearing on her forehead. The instigator, meanwhile, was now pressing his fingers to her neck, as if checking whether she was still alive.

"Oh! Hanton!" Kolev said in a low voice. "You're too rough!"

Yang Ming gave a calm smile.

Lina and her high-end hovercar were left in the multi-story parking lot.

When Yang Ming left, he thoughtfully cracked open two opposite windows for airflow, though he knew her accomplices would likely find her soon enough.

Kolev slid his finger across the glass panel in his hand, and a station-use sightseeing car pulled up in front of them, carrying the two straight toward the hangar.

Kolev had the air of a minor repair crew leader.

Yang Ming saw no trace of tension on the old man's face—only confidence and composure.

"Don't avoid anyone's gaze, Hanton," Kolev said softly. "Our fake identities have already been entered into their system. This port has high personnel turnover. We're two shipboard repairmen. The riot over there is still going on—they won't finish a headcount. No one will suspect us."

Yang Ming gave an imperceptible nod.

Most of the port workers they passed offered friendly smiles, and the hangar, packed with tugs and repair boats, was especially lax in security.

In fact, the civilian port barely had any real guard presence—nothing like the military ports in Hanton's memory, where sentries stood every few steps.

While a few port security guards chatted at the entrance, Kolev and Yang Ming had already picked out an expensive integrated maintenance boat, hacked its system, activated hover mode, and casually cruised past those guards.

One guard looked up. Kolev flashed a warm smile, flicked his index and middle fingers off his brow, and threw the guard a wink.

"Good work!" the guard shouted.

Yang Ming's expression turned odd.

Just how many ships had this old man stolen in his life?

He was way too smooth at this!

If Kolev weren't a pirate, he could easily be a top-tier programmer—his income would be no joke.

Kolev hummed a tuneless melody. Under Yang Ming's watch, he deftly flipped open instrument panels and lit up symbols Yang Ming couldn't understand.

The boat sped steadily toward the spaceport's exit tunnel.

Kor Port could be roughly divided into two parts—the main body and the periphery.

The periphery consisted of deep-space stations that serviced and resupplied ships not docking at the port.

The main body was encased in a protective shield, simulating a planet's atmosphere to create a stable ecological environment. This energy shield enveloping Kor Port's core naturally couldn't be opened or closed at will. The civilian spaceport, for the convenience of travelers, was also laid out inside the shield. Ships had to leave the simulated atmosphere through segmented lock-like tunnels.

The integrated maintenance boat left the simulated gravity zone, and Yang Ming enjoyed the odd sensation of his butt lifting slightly off the seat.

This was an experience no ordinary full-dive VR gear could offer.

"Lucky for us, we don't have to queue this time," Kolev said with a grin. "But our boat has no departure clearance. The moment we leave the tunnel, alarms will go off. Fasten your seatbelt."

Kolev's smile gradually faded, his eyes narrowing into slits.

The maintenance boat began to accelerate.

Layer after layer of light membranes in the tunnel opened and closed. The control tower had already noticed this unscheduled vessel.

Zzzz.

The noise of electromagnetic interference mixed with the controller's voice:

"Maintenance boat B435AZ... you have no takeoff plan... did you get it wrong?"

Kolev replied calmly, "We got a last-minute notice to inspect a merchant ship. Did the coordination mess up upstairs?"

"Oh, let me check... no back-end message... strange, what's going on? Either way, you need to pull back. This doesn't comply with regulations."

"Regulations?"

The wrinkles on Kolev's face trembled slightly. He shoved the control stick forward with both hands, and the maintenance boat's rear spewed a long tail of flame, accelerating wildly straight ahead.

Kolev shouted, "I am the regulations!"

"B435AZ, what are you doing?! God! You have no departure clearance!"

"Remote control! Remote control it!"

"The remote control backdoor is closed! We've got trouble!"

Whoosh!

Amid the chaotic noise from the intercom, the small maintenance boat burst out of the tunnel and shot into the deep starry void.

The port's piercing alarm blared to life.

The patrolling drones simultaneously adjusted direction, locked onto the maintenance boat, and charged over at full speed.

Kolev quickly set a coordinate, pushed the ship to full throttle, and shoved the long, floating control yoke in front of Yang Ming.

"Like when you were street racing before—I'll handle jamming these drones!"

Yang Ming nodded, feeling a bit nervous.

After all, the driving interface in games didn't have this many buttons.

"Push forward to accelerate, right?" Yang Ming asked.

"Oh, you serious?" Kolev's face was full of disbelief.

Yang Ming curled his lip and slammed the control stick to its maximum range. A violent surge of G-force erupted.

His intuition was really something.

Outside Kor Port, like a kingdom of metal, a six-meter-long small boat sped through space, with a swarm of flashing police drones in frantic pursuit.

This space chase scene was captured by optical principles onto a telescope.

In front of the micro projection screen connected to the telescope, Lina pressed her hand against the swollen spot on her forehead, fighting the urge to vomit, grinding her teeth in fury.

She definitely had a concussion!

She was only staying awake with medication for now; she'd have to take leave to recover for months!

"Commander!" A report came from a subordinate outside the vehicle. "Our two frigates are about to reach the designated airspace!"

"Have them lock onto that flying boat. Do everything possible to capture them!"

Lina's voice rose a bit, and a wave of dizziness hit her. She couldn't help but curse under her breath, viciously:

"Damn Hanton! When I catch him, I'll smash his head against the wall! A hundred times!"